Can a meter contain another meter, eg. 4/(9/8)?

thurulingas · July 23, 2026, 1:53pm

So I’m trying to recreate the final section of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, in which a passage in 9/8 segues into the Prestissimo final section, in which the new meter is 4/2, but each of those half notes is the same length as a full measure in 9/8 of the previous tempo. Walton is kind to the singers, and gives them a simple 4/2 (and helpfully also does the counting for them – I suspect he thinks singers can’t read / don’t watch / need handholding). But for the instruments (or at least, the orchestral reduction), he states the new meter as 4/9/8.

I think it’s an elegant, if non-standard, solution to a problem of his own creation, but I would like to know if Dorico can create a time signature like this? For me, I’d want the numerator as is, but the meter denominator to be parenthesised or bracketed. I know that 9/8 + 9/8 + 9/8 + 9/8 is possible, and the denominator style option of showing a rhythmic value rather than a number isn’t quite flexible enough to handle it (though it does try, giving me

which is pretty close, but crucially fails to convey that the new pulse is in 4.

Has anyone achieved something similar?

charles_piano · July 23, 2026, 2:15pm

Something like this?

Vadian · July 23, 2026, 2:22pm

Brilliant, I just finished to mock the time signature as Playing Technique

thurulingas · July 30, 2026, 2:41am

That would be ideal! Bravo – now, how did you do it?

charles_piano · July 30, 2026, 5:53am

The general Time Signature is 1/2|1/2|1/2|1/2 with the Combine compatible aggregates property enabled:

It gives 4/2 with intermediate dashed lines.

In each staff of the piano, I enter the same time signature, but as independent TS (Alt+Enter to close the popover). That way, you can hide them independently from the property panel.

Then I create a playing technique 4/9/8, that I apply on each staff of the piano, and move it at the proper place in Engrave Mode.

Here is the file (with 3 different options for the TS in 3 different flows). You can take the 4/(9/8) playing technique from it via the Library Manager if you wish!

And to enter the piano music, I use 9:4 tuplets.

498 Time Signature.dorico (1,6 Mo)

And here is how I create a 4/(9/8) playing technique:

judddanby · July 30, 2026, 1:59pm

If I may lapse into the vernacular: “wow, dude!” Bravo, @charles_piano!